Not a rivalry?! Charlotte FC's Dean Smith puts Nashville SC fans on blast | OneFootball

In the debate swirling over whether Charlotte FC and Nashville SC have a legitimate MLS rivalry, Dean Smith put himself squarely in the 'No' camp.

And he laid the blame at the feet of Nashville SC fans, Or what he thought was a conspicuous absence of them.

After helping The Crown rally to a 2-1 victory over the Coyotes on Saturday, Smith was asked about whether the fixture had the same feel as an early derby clash against Atlanta United.

"I don’t think so. I’m sorry to say," said Smith. "I didn’t see many Nashville fans around the stadium today, I must admit. When we go to Atlanta or we go to Nashville, we do take a few more fans. So I’m sorry to say, Nashville, but no, not too much."

In fairness to both Smith and Nashville fans, part of the context here is a clash of culture and geography.

It's a big country

Prior to his MLS foray, Smith spent his entire playing and managing career in English football, where a sizable contingent of away fans at every game is a constant. Part of that is the cultural importance of the sport in England. But part of it is logistics.

The longest possible away trip in the English league system is from Plymouth to Newcastle, which is a round-trip drive of about 830 miles. That's only a fraction more than the 820-mile round trip from Charlotte to Nashville.

Even the journey to Atlanta, Charlotte's closest MLS rival geographically, is a just under a 500-mile round trip. That's roughly in the same ballpark as fans of any London club making the round trip to Newcastle, considered one of the most grueling in the Premier League.

Also, if Saturday did lack a rivalry feel, the attendance data makes it awful hard to put all of that on absent visiting fans.

Charlotte drew a paid attendance of 29,591 on Saturday, more than 20,000 shy of the 51,002 who passed through the turnstiles for the home opener against Atlanta United on Matchday 2. While Atlanta did bring a strong traveling contingent that day, ost of that difference falls on the home support.